Thursday, May 25, 2017

One of the best sales of the season started yesterday - the Nordstrom Half-Yearly Sale! It's not AS good as the amazing Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, which starts on July 21st this year, BUT the Half-Yearly sale is a good one! There are tons of items marked on sale that are perfect for the upcoming summer season!

I've rounded up a few of my favorites from the sale below. Some I already own and love and some are in my cart all ready to be purchased or already on the way to me!

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

I am a huge fan of shopping local and an even bigger fan of shopping small businesses! Today I want to highlight a small business that my dear friend Emily owns, Emily Ward Jewelry. She's local to Oklahoma and makes the most adorable jewelry and accessories!

A couple weeks ago Emily launched these oh so stinking cute custom state key fobs and I couldn't wait to get my hands on one to jazz up my own keys! She has so many different designs and color choices you can choose from AND you do NOT have to be from Oklahoma! She can create whatever state and color combination you would like and they are so cheap you guys, check them out here along with the rest of her jewelry line! PS how perfect would these be for a gift?! I'm thinking a college or high school graduation gift, perfect!

I chose leopard and the hot pink tassel and it was a hard choice. Being a huge Oklahoma Sooners fan I almost went with crimson and cream but the pink and leopard is just too dang cute!

Monday, May 22, 2017

I will be completely honest, this meal is not right up my alley at all. I tend to steer from large pieces of meat for meals. I'm by no means a vegetarian I just tend to go for the smaller meat portions. But hey, every now and then everyone needs a good hearty southern meal and this is one that will not disappoint! If you aren't a 'cook' don't be intimidated by the number of ingredients in this recipe. It really is a pretty easy meal to make and it is delicious! Since I'm already serving a meal that is gonna break the scale, HA, I usually just go ahead and serve the steaks with mashed potatoes and typically glazed carrots or another fresh veggie.

Pioneer Woman's Salisbury Steak

Ingredients

Meat Mixture

1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef

1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs2 Tbs heavy cream

1 Tbs ketchup

2 Tsps dry mustard

4 dashes Worcestershire sauce

1 cube beef bouillon, crumbled

Salt and Pepper

1 Tbs butter

1 Tbs olive oil

Gravy

1 whole onion, halved and thinly sliced

2 cups beef broth, more if needed for thinning

1 Tbs ketchup

1 Tsp seasoning sauce, such as Kitchen Bouquet, optional. {I do not personally use this}

4 dashes Worcestershire

1 Tsp cornstarch

Salt and Pepper

DirectionsFor the meat mixture: Combine the ground beef, breadcrumbs, heavy cream, ketchup, dry mustard, Worcestershire sauce, bouillon and some salt and pepper. Knead until all combined. Form into 6 oval patties, and then make lines across the patties, with your finger, to give them a "steak" appearance (this is just for fun!).

Fry the patties in a skillet with the butter and oil over medium-high heat on both sides until no longer pink in the middle, about 4 minutes per side. Remove from skillet and pour off any excess grease. (If you use a good lean meat you won't have much if any grease)

For the gravy: Reduce the heat to medium and add in the sliced onions. Stir and cook until golden brown and somewhat soft, for several minutes. Add 1 & 3/4th cup beef stock, kethcup, seasoning sauce, if using, and the Worcestershire. Then combine the cornstarch with the remaining 1/4th cup beef broth and add to the gravy. Stir and cook to reduce while thickening.

Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper and more broth if needed for thinning. Then return the patties to the gravy. Spoon the gravy over the top and let them simmer and heat back up for a couple minutes.

These Sam & Libby Bow Sandals are a great dupe for the Sam Edelman Henna Bow Slide. The Target slides are a fourth the price and come in several colors that the Sam Edelman version also comes in. Great dupe find!

Oh my word, how cute is this mat?! I spotted it at one of my local Target stores but they only had one left and it was messed up. Logged on to the website to find it on sale for $10 online! Score, this baby is on the way to my home! It is going to just look too adorable on my back patio!

Unfortunately this one is already sold out online but I have spotted it in stores. I did link a similar pom pom version online but if you are obsessed with the one above like me and many others keep an eye out at your local store. It is $34.99.

I might be a little all the heart eye emojis for anything cactus again this summer but seriously?! How cute are these little tot cacti suits and even one for their daddy! Find all the suits here with a few different variations. So cute and of course so cheap!

Because how could I not include the Sugarfix line. Baublebar kills it at Target and I'm completely swooning over these stripe drop ball earrings for a fraction of the cost of Baublebar's line of drop earrings.

Now tell me what you have found at Target lately! I'm a firm believer that a good Target trip is good for the soul. I hope y'all have a great weekend!

Thursday, May 18, 2017

It is safe to say that I am craving and shopping all things summer now! I have these rose gold sunnies and they have been on high rotation this season already. I find myself always grabbing for this pair when I head out the door. The bow flip flops are in my cart ready to be on the way to my doorstep and stop it with this rose flamingo! I had the the white swan float, before the guys popped it last summer {insert eye roll} and I named her was Swoonie the Swannie so it is taking everything in me not to order this cutie!

What are some of your favorite summer finds you are swooning over or have purchased this season?

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Last week my mom and I both took a day off work and head north to Pawhuska, Oklahoma. If you've been around here a little bit you will remember that her and I first visited the Pioneer Woman's Mercantile back in January, you can read about that trip here in this post. That time we were both on Christmas break vacation, along with the rest of the world, and we went on a Friday. Huge mistake! If you aren't familiar with the Merc there are three parts to it. The restaurant, the store and the bakery. Well they also have a grab and go station with a portion of their menu that you can get to go. Our first trip it was so busy that we had to wait an hour and a half just to go inside the store side to shop and the wait for the restaurant was over four hours. We grabbed goodies from the bakery and ate at another local spot in town.

All this to say we both really wanted to go back and eat lunch there. So off we went and we waited two hours and three minutes on a random Tuesday. We took turns going in to shop since there wasn't a line for the store this time. This made the time pass quickly and also the weather was beautiful this trip unlike the first time when we waited in the freezing January temps.

I am such a foodie but I will admit that the huge mason jar that my iced tea was served in might have been my favorite part! AND they have crushed ice, perfect! Just kidding, it was all so good but I was over the moon to see my huge tea come out after the long wait! I'm a tea gal for sure!

We decided to order the spinach artichoke dip that was made with six different cheeses and served in a mini cast iron skillet with chips and pita bread. It was to die for y'all! Very rich but I still could've eaten the entire pan of it! I highly recommend it if you visit the Merc for lunch or dinner!

I really wanted to try the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy because I just felt like I should. It is favorited on the menu and known to be the dish Ree spent the most time perfecting. However, my stomach just couldn't stomach that much food for lunch so I chose the southern fried chicken sandwich which was served with a bed of creamy coleslaw atop the chicken and finished with house made butter pickles on a potato bun. Y'all, this was delicious! It was served with house made potato chips and I could barely finish half. I took the rest home and it was just as good leftover the next day! My mom picked the beef brisket reuben which was also served with the house made potato chips. She said it was fantastic and also could only finish half.

I knew in January I would be back and before I even left this time I knew I'll be going back again! We left about a quarter till three and there was a whopping three people in line!! Ahhh so next trip and a tip for all of you wanting to visit, go first thing in the morning or late afternoon. Although I have a feeling the summer and Saturdays are probably busy all day long.

The lunch/dinner menu features several appetizers, hearty entrees including the chicken fired steak, two different lasagnas and enchiladas. There are also several soups and sandwiches to chose from as well as salads and of course desserts!

We were too full to have dessert so before we left we both took a few pecan sticky buns to go from the bakery. Oh my word, so delicious! I was wishing I would've gotten the half of dozen pack. Lesson learned!

Have you visited the Mercantile yet? Are you a fan of Ree like my mom and I are? Sadly she wasn't at the Merc but I hope to catch her on the next trip!

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Man, yesterday was definitely a Monday and despite all my intentions on getting the weekend post up it just wasn't happening. So here I am for a late recap but it was such a good one that I didn't want to not get it posted. I love looking back here on my little space of mine and cherishing the memories so a late post it is!

On Saturday we celebrated my sister in law Randi for graduating with her MBA! It was such a fun time spending part of the day with friends and family celebrating. I am so proud of you Randi!

That evening I made it back home in time to bake a couple of strawberry pies for Mother's Day. I had never made a strawberry pie but I was so happy with how they turned out! I used this recipe but made my own crust and used the strawberries we handpicked from the strawberry field.

On the morning of Mother's Day two of my nieces and one of my nephews were dedicated at church. It was such a special moment, love these babies!

All of us with my Mother In Law after the church service.

That afternoon we celebrated my mother in law with a cookout. It was such a beautiful day so the guys grilled burgers and we all ate and played outside for the rest of the afternoon. My nephews had the time of their life playing with Haddock in the creek and my niece Presley couldn't give Haddock enough kisses!

Happy Mother's Day to me from my fur baby Haddock! hehe

That evening we celebrated my mom and my sister with dinner. It was such a fun time because my mom is a HUGE Paul McCartney fan and I had secretly won her tickets a few days before for his concert this summer. She was so happy and surprised, it was so perfect!

It was a great weekend with a ton of memories made with friends and family! My mom, mother in law and sister deserve to be celebrated everyday because they are such wonderful moms! I love you guys, I'm so glad each of one you holds such a special place in my heart and life!